Scots Parliament welcomes Opera staff

Union members facing redundancy at Scottish Opera have won support from MSPs after a lobby in Edinburgh.

More than 100 members of BECTU and the Musicians' Union representing technical, administrative, and performing staff, collected signatures today (June 17) from Members of the Scottish Parliament who support the campaign against job cuts at Scottish Opera.

Union campaigners took their fight for jobs to the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh

While MSPs signing a union petition were serenaded by members of the Opera chorus at Edinburgh's Assembly Hall - Parliament's temporary home on the Mound - BECTU officials met Scottish Opera's management to begin talks over a savings plan which threatens more than 120 jobs.

At the negotiating meeting, management confirmed a proposal to cut 88 jobs at Scottish Opera, and to out-source 34 staff at the Theatre Royal to Ambassador Theatres Group.

The planned redundancies include all of the Opera House chorus singers, who led the entertainment at the Mound during the day, as well as dozens of BECTU members in support and technical jobs.

Union officials, and almost every commentator in the Scottish press, have blamed the proposed cuts on financial mis-management at the Opera, where a £4.5m deficit was created in the 12-month period up to April 2004.

At the meeting, BECTU was given the first official notice that further job cuts could follow if Scottish Opera went ahead with a study into the feasibility of out-sourcing most staff in production departments, including wardrobe and scenery.

According to management, the out-sourcing study was one condition of an emergency £7m cash lifeline from the Scottish Executive. Another condition of the crisis funding was that Scottish Opera would retain its orchestra intact, which moved the redundancy spotlight onto chorus singers.

BECTU has demanded more financial information from the Opera management to explain the job cut proposals, and will be tackling the Scottish Executive about the threat of further redundancies if the production review goes ahead.

Members of BECTU at Scottish Opera, and the Theatre Royal, have given negotiators a mandate to ballot for industrial action at any point during the negotiations, and are due to discuss the threatened job cuts again at a meeting within the next two weeks.